


Shattered Crystal

by snowwhitealice



Series: The Shattered Crystal [1]
Category: Labyrinth (1986)
Genre: F/M, Mental Institution, Psychosis, Recovered Memories
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-19
Updated: 2019-05-19
Packaged: 2020-05-15 14:45:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,229
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19297870
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/snowwhitealice/pseuds/snowwhitealice
Summary: Institutionalized, Sarah has forgotten everything about the Labyrinth. But today, things are changing. She's finally remembering.





	Shattered Crystal

**Author's Note:**

> Like most of my stories, this came to me in a dream, and I wrote it while listening to music. The song I listened to the most is "Away From Me" by Evanescence.
> 
> This was originally published on May 19, 2019 on fanfiction.net under my pen name snowwhitealice.

****Disclaimer:**** I do not own _Labyrinth,_ its characters, scenes, or quotes. Dr. Graemes and Nurse Molly are my OCs.

 

* * *

 

 

 The remembering comes slowly at first, like river water trickling through a fissure in a dam. Then more and more details emerge, until she is drowning.

* * *

 

_This wasn't supposed to happen._

_It was a stupid wish. It wasn't supposed to come true. It had slipped out of her mouth before she knew it, as though someone else had spoken through her. These creatures are not even said to exist in this world._

_But exist they must, because the room is full of them, and Toby is gone._

_And_ he _is there: Platinum hair tossing in the wind, cloak whirling, piercing eyes pinning her to the spot._

I knew you were real! I always knew! _She thinks wildly as tears spring to her eyes._

_A challenge is set. The clock is ticking. He has vanished._

_The dwarf is rough and impatient. By his hand, the beautiful faeries wither and die._

_The doors swing open. The faerie bite on her finger burns and bleeds._

_All is magic. All is blood._

__

* * *

 

 

Dr. Graemes hates mornings in this place. The madness is thick, a physical touch on his skin; sharp, drawing blood. He shudders inside from the screams and the insane laughter, but he does his job with a smile on his face. Some days it's harder than others to maintain it.

 

He pauses at a thick white door, identical to the rest in this white corridor. No screams or cries ring out from behind this door; there is only silence. Without a sound, he unlocks it and eases it open. His smile is ready for the young girl within.

 

She takes no notice. She never does. A psychotic break at the age of fifteen led to episodes of drifting and dreaming, and now she is locked inside her own mind. She is barely eighteen.

 

"Good morning, Sarah!" He says cheerfully, closing the door behind him. "Nurse Molly says you ate well this morning! Did you enjoy the food?" No response. "You know, Sarah, I'm curious. You exist in your own dream world, but you continue to eat in this one. Are you eating in the dream world at the same time? If so, what are you eating?"

 

Sarah is propped up against her pillows so that she can see out of the barred window. She's looking out now, but he knows she doesn't see what he sees. A mother wren has built her nest in the tree just outside, and she is busily feeding her little ones. Sarah does not appear to notice them.

 

"You also walk around when permitted, and you care for your other needs as well..." He trails off when she continues to ignore him. It's just as well. He hadn't really expected her to reply. Sighing, he asks, "Sarah, don't you want to get well and go home? Get out of this place? You can't be happy locked up in here. You just lie there dreaming day after day after -"

 

He startles and chokes, falling back a step. Sarah has turned her lovely green eyes on him. She is really a beautiful girl with long, thick raven black hair, an upturned nose, and a natural blush on her porcelain cheeks. And those eyes! Normally, they stare right through him, vacant pools the color of the sea. But he is certain that this time she __sees__ him, from his short brown curls to his black loafers. He is a young doctor, and her scrutinizing gaze leaves a blush in its wake.

 

Then those eyes turn so cruel, he flinches. She glares scornfully for a moment, then turns her head back to the window.

 

Dr. Graemes flees the room so quickly that he nearly forgets to lock the door behind him.

 

* * *

 

 

_So many turns, so many endless paths. Hidden openings, secret traps._

_She has been lost for hours. Serves her right for taking directions from a talking worm. She can hear Toby crying all the way from the castle, the once-annoying sound now breaking her heart. If only she could reach the center!_

_Wait. Toby has stopped crying. Something must be wrong! But the harder she tries to make it to the castle, the further away she seems to get._

_Her lipstick. Its bright pink shade will show clearly on the stone. Marking her path should make things easier. Her arrows are eye-catching and reveal to everyone where she has been, and where she is going._

_Another dead end. And...her arrow has been turned! The dead end is now behind her. Laughter echoes in her head._

_All is spinning. All is confusion._

__

* * *

 

 

"You have such pretty hair, Sarah," Nurse Molly croons as she runs the hairbrush through it. She expects no reply, and she doesn't receive one. The girl doesn't even blink.

 

Nurse Molly is a large woman who stands for no nonsense. She has little patience, but Sarah doesn't try it. She never speaks, never screams, rarely makes any sound at all. She's docile and easily cared for. All Nurse Molly must do is feed her and administer her medications, escort her to therapy, the rec room, and the bathroom, then to the showers before bed.

 

"My hair was once as beautiful as yours," she says conversationally. "Now I am growing old, so it is grey, and leaving it long was impractical. I do miss the way it looked before." Growing wistful, she trails off.

 

After a few more strokes of the brush, she pockets it and takes Sarah's hand. "Time for therapy." Gently, she pulls her to her feet and leads her out of her room.

 

* * *

 

 

_Haunting music. Dancers in masks. A ballgown the color and sheen of pearls._

_And_ him. _So handsome in his royal attire. He holds her close, and their dance makes her heart sing._

_All is beauty. All is love._

__

* * *

 

 

"Sarah, would you like to talk today?" Dr. Graemes asks gently. As usual, she stares into space and says nothing. "Nothing?" He presses. "I know you can hear me, Sarah. You're just ignoring me. The look you gave me this morning proved that."

 

She simply blinks slowly. He wonders what she sees.

 

"Your parents are coming to see you today. I'll bet you're very excited to see them."

 

Once more those cruel eyes lock onto him. And once more, he flinches away from that icy glare.

 

Forty minutes of awkward silence later, during which she stares at him coldly, he releases her back into Nurse Molly's care.

 

It takes another ten minutes before he is calm enough to see his next patient.

 

* * *

 

 

 _His clothing makes him resemble an owl. The castle has crumbled around them, and they are standing on a ledge. This is the final confrontation, and she is afraid. She wishes her friends could have accompanied her, but she's aware that that's not how the story goes. Her one comfort is the spark of fear in_ his _gaze. At least she's not the only one. She stands straighter._

_What he asks of her is exactly what she wants, but she must think of Toby. Toby does not deserve the fate he would suffer if she fails. Her own selfishness put him here, and her selflessness is his only hope._

_So she says the words. They echo in her ears like a death knell._

_No, wait. That's the striking of the grandfather clock._

_Time's up._

_He falls. His offered crystal shatters in her outstretched palm. Her heart breaks._

_All is sadness. All is loss._

__

* * *

 

 

Sarah's stepmother has grown more patient with her over the years. Of course it helps that Sarah hasn't spoken a word since she retreated into her own world. No arguments. No sass. She looks right through her, so no more sneers either. The perfect stepdaughter.

 

Even her father seems relieved. The pressure Sarah put on him before! Always it was an unspoken challenge: "That woman or me!" Robert often avoided them both when the fighting became too much.

 

But today, the doctor has news. She looked at him that morning, he says. Once after breakfast, and once during therapy. She'd also picked up a book in the rec room, but she'd put it down without reading it. This all shows that she could be waking up, returning to reality. Isn't that wonderful?

 

Sarah's stepmother tries to hide her despair.

 

Sarah sits up in bed, regal as a queen. She looks her father directly in the eye when he straightens from hugging her. The unwavering gaze, full of betrayal, unsettles him. He looks away.

 

Now it's her stepmother's turn. But she barely takes one step towards her, because Sarah turns a glare of hatred upon her so fierce that it freezes her in her tracks. Her arms, outstretched for a hug, fall limply to her sides.

 

And Sarah speaks in a voice weak from lack of use, shocking them all.

 

"You," she croaks. "You never should have put me in this place."

 

Her stepmother flinches, the memories rushing her. They'd returned from their date that night to find Toby sleeping, and Sarah yelling and laughing in her room. She'd cracked open the door to see Sarah wearing a party hat and talking to things only she could see. When confronted, she'd shrieked about being spied upon, then babbled a story about goblins and saving Toby and how her friends could visit her anytime they wished.

 

"Sarah, you were out of your head," she chokes out defensively. "What else would a concerned mother have done?"

 

"You did what any selfish _stepmother_ would have done to a stepdaughter she hated: You got rid of me," Sarah hisses.

 

Her stepmother blinks back tears. She recalls Sarah's tantrum when they'd refused to believe her, her screams of fury when they'd come for her, then her terrible silence when they'd given her the shot.

 

As though reading her mind, Sarah narrows her eyes to slits and snarls, "Those shots took every last memory of that day away from me. I spent years in a dream world, trying to get those memories back. But then something changed, and I finally _remember."_

 

Dr. Graemes, pale and silent up until now, hastily answers their questioning looks. "She wasn't out of control anymore. I stopped the shots, and she did very well without them. She was a model patient...until today." He scrambles out of the room calling, "Nurse Molly!" in a near-shriek.

 

Sarah pulls herself onto her knees, still staring her stepmother down. "It was all my fault. I know this," she says softly in a stronger voice. "I was stupid to tell you the truth. As soon as you revealed you couldn't see them, I should have claimed to be playing pretend. But I trusted you, and that was a dumb mistake." Then she smiles with such joy that even her father looks shocked. "But it's okay. My friends have come to take me back where I belong. Where I'm wanted and loved." She turns her loving gaze onto the empty doorway. "Sir Didymus! Hoggle! Ludo! I've missed you so much!" Then her face changes, bursts into rays of love. "Jareth? _You've_  come for me?" Neither her father nor her stepmother have heard of this one before, so they exchange a glance of confused concern. On the bed, Sarah extends her arms to nothing.

 

The rest happens quickly. Dr. Graemes returns with a large nurse who gently wraps Sarah in her arms. Over her shoulder, Sarah frowns in uncertainty. Dr. Graemes injects the medicine into her hip.

 

"Ow!" Sarah exclaims, beginning to cry. "No!" She turns to the doorway and sobs, "No! Please don't leave me again!"

 

"Shh," Nurse Molly soothes. "Don't cry, Sarah. Just let the shot relax you."

 

Sarah's face goes blank, and her body goes limp. Nurse Molly gently eases her back against her pillows. She weeps silently, and that's worse than her screams. Even her stepmother is crying.

 

"What's wrong with me?" Sarah whimpers to Nurse Molly, who brushes away her tears.

 

"You just need some rest, Sarah. That's all," Nurse Molly replies.

 

"Tomorrow may be a better day for a visit," Dr. Graemes whispers to her parents. But her stepmother can't look away. Sarah is staring at her pleadingly. She reaches her hand out to her. Almost against her will, her stepmother approaches the bed and takes it. Sarah's fingers are like ice.

 

"Say your goodbyes," Dr. Graemes urges.

 

"In a moment!" Her father barks. The doctor shrinks away.

 

"Toby..." Sarah breathes in a voice growing weak again.

 

"Toby's fine, dear. He misses you," her stepmother lies. Toby was so small when Sarah was taken away that now, at nearly four, he doesn't remember her. He points to her in photos and says her name, but not with recognition. It's merely mechanical habit, repeating what his parents have taught him.

 

Fresh tears spill from Sarah's eyes. "If only..."

 

Her stepmother swallows tears of her own. "If only what, Sarah?"

 

Sarah's tears cease. Peace settles over her features. Her eyes unfocus, and her gaze drifts somewhere over her stepmother's shoulder.

 

"If only I could remember," she whispers on a sigh. Her hand slackens and slips out of her stepmother's grasp to flutter, birdlike, back onto the bed.

 

And Sarah is gone, escaping back into her dream world, seeking answers to questions she's forgotten.


End file.
